nce of Alberta.
However, with the progress being made with the Provincial Government in
connection with the pork-packing and beef-chilling plant and with the
Dominion Government in regard to government ownership of terminal
elevators, the farmers as a whole began to see the need of closer
union. Such wide measures as a system of government-owned internal
elevators were bringing the farmers of all three Western provinces into
closer conference and in 1908 the feeling in favor of amalgamation of
all Alberta farmers into one organization began to crystallize.

Finally in September a conference was held between representatives of
the Alberta Farmers' Association and the Canadian Society of Equity.
The constitution drafted at this conference was submitted to the annual
conventions of both bodies at Edmonton on January 13th, 1909. The
following morning the delegates of the Canadian Society of Equity
marched from their hall to the convention of the Alberta Farmers'
Association and amid great cheers the two became one under the name,
United Farmers of Alberta, with "Equity" as their motto, and with a
strong coalition directorate.[1]

Until now each of the organizations had had its separate official
organ; but on amalgamation these were dropped and the _Grain Growers'
Guide_ adopted as the official organ for Alberta. First published
under the auspices of the Manitoba Grain Growers' Association, the
_Guide_ now represented the farmers' movement in all three provinces.
The wisdom of its establishment was being proved steadily. Its
circulation was gathering momentum with every issue. It was now coming
out as a weekly and its pages were filled with valuable information for
the farmer on every subject dealing with the marketing of his produce.
Also it was proving a wonderful educator on such large questions as
government ownership of elevators, the tariff, control of public
service corporations and so forth. The farmer was getting information
which he had never been able to obtain before and he was getting it
without distortion, uncolored by convenient imagination, plain as Fact
itself.

An up-to-date printing plant had been installed to print the _Guide_
and do a general job-printing business, and this was organized as a
separate company under the name of the "Public Press, Limited."

In addition to all the difficulties which usually attend the building
of a publishing enterprise to success, the farmers' own journal had to